Tilling and Planting

Tag: God The Father

  • Infinite God

    Infinite God

    Intro

    When you think of the word “infinite” what comes to mind? Outer space? The number system? An attribute of God? All too often we as Christians put God in a box. We try to put limitations on Him and then wonder why He doesn’t move in our lives. Some of us have grown up being told that God is infinite, but then being told that He doesn’t do certain things. So let’s get back to the basics. Our God is infinite. In an infinite amount of ways. And I wish to highlight some of the big ones that I know we’ve all heard. As has been the point of this entire blog, I want to go back to the basics. The simple truth of the Word of God and break it down to its core elements. So that we might have understanding and faith in it once again.

    So what are those “big” infinite attributes I wish to highlight? Ever hear these words: Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Immutable? These are the ones I wish to highlight today (plus another one, but you’ll have to keep on reading to discover what it is).

    Omnipotent

    When I start talking about an infinite God, I think this is the attribute that comes to mind quickest. Omnipotent means “All-Powerful”. It means that God has the power to do whatever He wants. He created the entire universe with just His voice.

    By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. Psalm 33:6 (NIV)

    Some other examples of God’s omnipotence include: parting the Red Sea so Israel could walk across dry ground, giving a 100 year old man and 90 year old barren woman a son, making the sun stand still (which technically was making the earth stop rotating, but semantics), sending a global flood to wipe out everything on the earth (except those on the ark), becoming a man through a virgin birth, performing a crazy number of miracles as a man, and the list goes on. Seriously, just read through the Bible and you’ll be amazed at the number of miracles that God did. And He still does them today! All throughout history and up until the current day, there are testimonies of what God has done in people’s lives. I’ve heard some and know people who have encountered the unexplainable. Unexplainable, that is, except by an omnipotent God.

    Omnipresent

    To be omnipresent is to be everywhere all at once. The infinite presence of God is another attribute of His that readily comes to people’s minds. And the Bible makes this pretty clear.

    Because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5b (NIV)

    And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20b (NIV)

    These are just two places – and the Hebrews is a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6. Doing a quick search online, there are at least 100 different verses that tell us that God is with us. Think about that for a moment, the minimum number of times the Bible states this is 100. More likely the number is higher than that, but I’m not going to try and count them all. For me personally, this has been one of my favorite attributes. One of the first times I clearly heard God was when I was going through something painful and I asked, “God where are you? Do you see me?” And He clearly spoke to me and said, “Yes”. God’s infinite presence highlights something else about God that is infinite. His love. God’s love is without limit. And His omnipresence proves that. If He didn’t love us, why stay with us?

    Omniscient

    To be omniscient is to be all-knowing. God knows literally everything. You can’t hide anything from Him. Every star that goes nova, every drop of rain that falls, every tear a person cries, every bacteria that divides to reproduce, etc. God knows it all. The Bible says that God calls each star by name and knows the number of hairs on your head. And it gets crazier. Because to be omniscient also means knowing everything from beginning to the end. God’s memory isn’t just remembering everything that has happened in the past, it’s also knowing about everything before it even happens. This breaks my brain a bit. The Bible says before the foundations of the earth were put into place, He planned to send Jesus to the cross (see 1 Peter 1:18-20).

    This one is hard to comprehend. God knew before He created anything that mankind would sin and reject Him and He would have to send His Son to die a horrible death (see my post here about how bad it was) to redeem us. And He still did it! Why? Refer back to my comment about God’s infinite love. And this also goes along with Him giving us free will, so we can choose to love and serve Him. God wants us to choose. Because of His omniscience, God knew all possible outcomes depending how He chose to create everything. Free will? Rebellion, suffering, and redemption. No free will? I don’t even know what would have actually come out of that. But I can promise you there wouldn’t be any sin, suffering, or death! If there still was, God would not be the good God the Bible says He is.

    Immutable

    Immutability is actually a little less known than the prior three. The definition of immutable is “unchanging”. To put it into terms of God, God stays infinitely the same. As He was in the past, so shall He be in the future. God will never diverge from what His Word says about Him. This is comforting to know because if we’re seeking direction from God and we hear something, sometimes we wonder “Is this God, the devil, or me?” And one of the first things we can ask is “Does this line up with the Bible?” “Is it consistent with what the Bible says about God?” If not, then discard it because God will never change. The Bible clearly states this in a few different places.

    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)

    I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Malachi 3:6 (NIV)

    The one from Malachi hints at another part of God’s immutability. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. No matter how long it takes, He will fulfill it. He is faithful even when we aren’t. Israel kept turning its back on God and rebelling against Him. But because of His covenant, God did not destroy them. Because He is immutable. Another verse that highlights God’s immutability is found in Psalm 102. And with this one, I’m going to transition to the final infinite attribute of God that I wish to highlight – since Psalm 102 also highlights it.

    But you remain the same, and your years will never end. Psalm 102:27 (NIV)

    Eternal

    The final (and bonus!) attribute is God is eternal. He has no beginning and He will have no end. Revelation contains a popular verse about this.

    I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Revelation 22:13 (NIV)

    But there are many others. Another common one to quote for God’s eternal nature is found in Psalm 90.

    Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2 (NIV)

    I wish to highlight the phrase “from everlasting to everlasting you are God”. What does that mean exactly? It simply means what I already said, God had no beginning – from eternity past He existed – and God will have no end – He will continue to exist for eternity future.

    This is another one that kinda breaks the brain. To be sure, most of us can grasp the concept of having no end. Okay, something or someone just never dies or ceases to exist. I can get behind that. After all the Bible makes it clear that my spirit will continue to exist for all of eternity. And while it’s hard to imagine what I’ll be doing for all of eternity, I can at least grasp the concept. Grasping the idea of having no beginning is where I trip up. Bound in a world where time exists and everything around us has a beginning makes it difficult to imagine anything without one. This mindset begs the question “Where did God come from?” I’ve heard entertaining stories of children asking that question and the parents trying to explain a concept they don’t fully understand to a 4 year old.

    Wrapping Up

    So to wrap up, what does this all mean? Why talk about it at all? By knowing and understanding this, you and I can trust God with our problems. We can trust that He knows (Omniscient) what we are going through, that He is with us in the storm (Omnipresent), that He has the power to calm that storm (Omnipotent), and that He will come through when He says that He will help us (Immutable) because having been around for a while (Eternal) He is a stable God and a firm foundation upon which to build our lives. So cast your cares upon Him today and trust Him to come through for us when we need Him.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Jesus’ Triumph

    Jesus’ Triumph

    Intro

    After my last post I wouldn’t blame you if you felt a little depressed or defeated. The Son of God betrayed, beaten, crucified, died, and buried in a borrowed tomb. That’s rough. The disciples certainly felt depressed and defeated. They scattered while Jesus hung on the cross. Fearful for their lives, they dared not stick around. What they didn’t seem to recognize (despite Jesus’ predictions) was that Jesus was supposed to die, but that His death was not the end. In fact, with Jesus’ death came the greatest triumph in all of human history. Come explore Jesus’ triumph over death with me. (I realize Easter is over, but there’s much more to talk about.)

    Importance of Resurrection

    Thinking about the resurrection, what makes it so important? After all, Jesus’ death accomplished the sacrifice needed to pay for all our sins and satisfy the wrath of God. Furthermore, none of the animals from any sacrifices came back to life, they all stayed dead. So, why should Jesus come back? What makes His resurrection so necessary? While many reasons can be given, I’ll only present four here.

    Proof of Sufficient Sacrifice

    Jesus’ triumph over the grave by coming back to life was proof given by God that He accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as sufficient to cover our sins. God vindicated Jesus by bringing Him back to life because “the wages of sin is death” and Jesus lived a sinless life, therefore He didn’t deserve to die in the first place. And to make this argument stronger, Paul relates that without the resurrection, our faith is useless and in fact, we are still in our sins.

    And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith….And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17 (NIV)

    So, Paul saw the connection between the resurrection and the forgiveness of our sins. That’s a pretty big argument for the resurrections importance!

    Proof of Deity

    In addition to proving the sufficiency of His sacrifice, Jesus’ resurrection also proved His deity. Psalm 16:10 claims that God’s Holy One would never see corruption (or decay). By rising again, Jesus’ body never saw that corruption. Thus proving that He is God’s Holy One. Time and again, Jesus declared Himself the “Son of God” and equated Himself with God (don’t believe Jesus ever claimed that? check out my post on who Jesus is). And to take it a step further, Jesus predicted His own death and resurrection. So by rising again, He proved to everyone that He was indeed the Son of God. The long-awaited Messiah and Savior of the world.

    Death Has No Power

    Here’s a fun reason. When Jesus rose from the grave, death lost it’s power and was forever defeated. As Peter proclaimed in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost:

    But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. Acts 2:24 (NIV)

    Notice he said that “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him”. This actually goes back to the fact that Jesus lived a sinless life and death had no right to hold Jesus.

    To make this even better, Jesus’ triumph over death extends to us as well. As His followers, He defeated death for us too! Hallelujah! If you keep reading Paul’s discourse in 1 Corinthians 15, he says that because Christ was raised, we too shall be raised from the dead. Now all believers who die a physical death will immediately go to be with the Lord in Heaven, but someday God will raise these physical bodies and recreate them into something glorious.

    So hold on, sickness, suffering, and death do not have the final word. Jesus does. And He defeated all those things on the cross and through His resurrection.

    Matter Matters

    This might sound confusing but let me explain. The resurrection means that this physical world (matter) matters to Him. And this is hugely important since just a few decades later, something called Gnosticism would start spreading. This teaching claims what we do in the physical doesn’t matter. Our spirits are perfect so we can live how we want and we’ll still go to Heaven. However, by rising again in a physical body, Jesus refutes this by proclaiming that the physical creation matters. It’s important to Him. This also gives us hope that creation itself which groans under the weight of sin (Romans 8:22) will be redeemed (Revelation 21).

    Resurrection Foretold

    The triumph of Jesus recorded in the New Testament as His resurrection was prophesied a number of times. Most people recognize that Jesus prophesied His own death and resurrection on several occasions (I’ll cover some of those later), but not everyone realizes that the Old Testament records prophesies of Jesus’ resurrection as well. They acknowledge OT prophesies of His death, but don’t always recognize the resurrection ones as well. I wish to open up your eyes to these prophesies and show you yet more evidence that Jesus was who He claimed to be.

    Old Testament Prophecies

    David utters a line in Psalm 16 that really makes no sense at the time he wrote it. I imagine it confused a lot of people. At least until more prophets started prophesying about a coming Messiah, then people might’ve started connecting it to the Messiah.

    because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. Psalm 16:10 (NIV)

    I referenced this verse earlier and noted that the Messiah would not see any physical decay. Nor was His spirit left in the realm of the dead (called Sheol by the Jews). A pretty clear picture of rising from the dead here. And Peter in his Pentecost sermon makes reference to this very Psalm.

    Less specific than this one are simply various prophecies about the Messiah that demand His resurrection. What do I mean by that? Various prophecies place the Messiah as sitting on the throne of David, ruling the world, establishing peace and justice throughout the ages. He can’t do that if He’s still in the grave. Zechariah, for example, offers different images picture of a suffering Messiah who comes in humility and lowliness (think riding on a donkey) who is pierced and a Kingly, Ruling Messiah. These differing images demand a resurrection takes place between piercing and ruling.

    I don’t have time to go into all the prophecies of Zechariah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or the other prophets, but they are all littered with these contrasting images of suffering Messiah and conquering Messiah that demand a resurrection.

    Jesus’ Prophecies

    As I mentioned already, you may be more familiar with Jesus’ prophecies about His own triumph over the grave by rising again. Real quickly I’m going to list some of them out here.

    From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

    When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. Matthew 17:22-23 (NIV)

    “We are going up to Jerusalem,” he said, “and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.” Mark 10:33-34 (NIV)

    Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:19-22 (NIV)

    Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

    They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. John 2:19-22 (NIV)

    Wow, that’s quite a few times Jesus states that He’s going to die and rise again! And this isn’t even all of them! Makes me wonder how the disciples missed it. But sometimes when we get certain ideas in our heads, everything else just flies right over our heads. The disciples had the Kingly, conquering Messiah image in mind and thus couldn’t comprehend a suffering, dying Messiah.

    I’m going to go in a different direction for the next section. Get a little more apologetic if you don’t mind. And even if you do mind, I’m still going to do it.

    Contradictory Accounts?

    One of the greatest criticisms from skeptics of the Bible and the resurrection is the stark differences between the resurrection accounts found in the 4 gospels. None of them are identical and they even appear to contradict each other on some of the details. While I noticed the differences, I also inherently understood that the different writers recorded different pieces that they had available. Maybe they talked to different people or at the time of their writing only certain people were available (or alive) to get their account. Or perhaps the gospel writers wanted to focus on specific people or aspects of the resurrection. As you can see, just off the top of my head I listed several possibilities to explain the inconsistencies. And I’m sure there’s more.

    Harmonizing the Accounts

    However, this isn’t good enough for the skeptic. So, I found a harmonization of the 4 accounts. I can’t take credit for this so here’s a link to the original article.

    In Summation

    As you can see, we have a pretty strong example of a consistent, non-contradictory series of events that make up one cohesive resurrection story. And it’s very likely that this isn’t the only one out there. But regardless, what’s important is that despite the inconsistencies between the 4 gospels, it can’t be proven that the accounts contradict.

    Wrapping Up

    From everything I’ve said in these last couple of posts, it’s pretty clear that Jesus’ suffering had to occur in order for His triumph – the greatest in human history – to take place. Let us keep these things in mind with gratitude and rejoicing all year long – not just during this season.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Jesus’ Suffering

    Jesus’ Suffering

    Intro

    Easter season is upon us. We all know what that means. Easter candy!!! Lol, in all seriousness, though, we know this as the time Jesus suffered and died a horrible death to pay the penalty for our sins. We’ve heard it said that Jesus’ suffering bought us right standing with Father God. Kind of crazy to think about, right? Just thinking about all that He endured humbles me. I don’t feel like I’m worth it. Do you? But that’s the love of God on full display right there. No matter how much any of us have messed up, He died for us. While we were still sinners (see Romans 5:8); still lost and not caring at all about knowing God.

    I do wonder, however, how many of us fully comprehend Jesus’ suffering. Or how many of us take this time of year for granted (guilty). Here I wish to open all of our eyes to His suffering in two distinct areas: His physical suffering and His spiritual suffering. But before I do, I’m first going to show you how Jesus fulfilled Scripture by going to the cross. (All Scripture here comes from the NIV.)

    Prophetic Suffering

    The Jewish people looked for a Messiah. However, the Messiah they searched for was a kingly Messiah. A conqueror who would free them from Roman oppression. That’s why no one expected Jesus. And when He hung on that cross, most of His followers thought they got it wrong. And it is true that Old Testament prophecies speak to a conquering, kingly Messiah. However, there are also many prophecies that point to a suffering Messiah. But because of all the oppression that the Jews went through, they all clung to the conquering Messiah. In another post I’ll reconcile the two and how Jesus did and will fulfill these.

    But for now, I’ll focus on how Jesus’ suffering fulfilled the suffering servant Messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament. And these prophecies cover both the physical and the spiritual suffering. As well as some other details such as His betrayal.

    Betrayed By Friend

    These prophecies include the prediction and fulfillment of Jesus’ betrayal by a friend and the prophecy of the money the religious leaders paid said friend to betray Him.

    Prophecies

    Psalm 41:9, “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.”

    Zechariah 11:12-13, “I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.”

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 26:14-15, “Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.”

    Matthew 27:5-7, “So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.”

    Sham Trial

    These prophecies include the false witnesses that appeared as well as Jesus not responding to any accusations.

    Prophecies

    Psalm 27:12, “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.”

    Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 26:59-60, “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.”

    Mark 15:3-4, “The chief priests accused him of many things. So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.”

    Forsaken

    These cover the prediction of all who forsook Him in some way.

    Prophecies

    Zechariah 13:7, “‘Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.’”

    Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?”

    Fulfillment

    Mark 14:50, “Then everyone deserted him and fled.”

    Matthew 27:46, “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).”

    Misunderstood

    These prophecies include the mocking Jesus endured and the fact that He was counted as a criminal rather than the Messiah.

    Prophecies

    Psalm 22:7-8, “All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. ‘He trusts in the Lord,” they say, ‘let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.’”

    Isaiah 53:12, “Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 27:39, 43 “Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads…’He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, “I am the Son of God.”‘”

    Luke 23:33, “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.”

    Lots Cast For Clothing

    Even what happened to His clothing was prophesied!

    Prophecy

    Psalm 22:18, “They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”

    Fulfillment

    John 19:23-24, “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did.”

    Family & Friends Witnessed

    Have you ever considered that Jesus’ suffering was witnessed by His own family and closest friends (not just the 12 disciples)? Awful when you think about it.

    Prophecy

    Psalm 38:11, “My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away.”

    Fulfillment

    Luke 23:49, “But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.”

    Physical Body

    A lot happened to Him physically. Whether it was the injuries or even just being given vinegar to drink. All these forms of Jesus’ suffering were prophesied centuries before.

    Prophecies

    Isaiah 50:6, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”

    Isaiah 52:14, “Just as there were many who were appalled at him – his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.”

    Psalm 22:16, “Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.”

    Zechariah 12:10, “…They will look on me, the one they have pierced.”

    Psalm 34:20, “he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.”

    Psalm 69:21, “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 27: 26b, 29a, 30, “But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified….and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head….They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.”

    John 20:24-25, “Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’”

    John 19:33-34, “But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”

    John 19:29, “A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.”

    Suffered for Sins

    Isaiah made clear that sin was the reason for Jesus’ suffering.

    Prophecy

    Isaiah 53:4-6, “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

    Fulfillment

    Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

    1 Peter 2:24, “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”

    Spirit Committed & Burial

    Prophecies

    Psalm 31:5, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”

    Isaiah 53:9, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death.”

    Fulfillment

    Luke 23:46, “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

    Matthew 27:57-60, “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”

    Physical Suffering

    I realize that this post is already getting pretty long. Bear with me a while longer. I now want to turn from the prophesies of Jesus’ suffering to what He actually endured physically. And not just restating what the Bible says He went through. I want to comment on what Roman Crucifixion actually did to the body and what the person went through. I’m using extra-Biblical sources in this research and I’m sure you’ll recognize many of them since the Bible directly references much of what the Romans actually did when crucifying people.

    Flogging

    Romans flogged every person slated for crucifixion – except for Roman senators, soldiers (except for desertion), and women. A typical flog consisted of a short whip with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of bones were tied at intervals. The iron balls and bones dug deep into the skin and underlying tissue and literally tore flesh off bone. People were flogged just short of death. Roman soldiers often taunted the people during and after the flogging took place. Per the law, Roman soldiers whipped a person at a maximum of 39 times, though it’s unknown how often they broke that law simply because they wanted to. Especially when the person was slated for execution anyway.

    The Art of Crucifixion

    Odd heading, I know. But truthfully, the Romans perfected crucifixion. They didn’t invent it, but man did they perfect it to maximize pain and suffering while delivering a slow death. The Romans couldn’t have selected a worse way to bring about Jesus’ suffering and death.

    The physical cross consisted of a vertical post with a horizontal crossbeam. The condemned man carried the crossbeam from the flogging site to the crucifixion site outside the city. (So all the images/movies of Jesus carrying both parts…probably not accurate.) The upright posts outside the city were permanent structures and reused from person to person. The posts often had a crude seat-like thing for the sole purpose of prolonging the person’s death.

    The Romans affixed the victim’s arms to the crossbeam through either nailing or tying the wrists. Nailing seemed to be the preferred method. Once attached, the crossbeam and victim was raised up and attached to the vertical post. At which point the Romans nailed (or tied) the feet to the post. Above the head of the person, a soldier attached a sign with their name and charge(s) written on it. (Any of this sounding familiar?) Interestingly, law dictated that bitter wine mixed with myrrh (gall) be given to the victim as a mild pain reliever. In addition, the soldiers commonly divided the cloths of the victim amongst themselves.

    If the Romans desired to hasten the death of the victims, they would break their legs below the knees. And they used a spear to stab their victims through the heart to check to see if they were dead (and to ensure it if not).

    The Medical Side

    Any medical students, nurses, or doctors reading this? Ever thought about what Jesus’ body went through during the crucifixion process? Here’s a short list of different things I found when researching what Jesus’ body went through.

    • Hematidrosis, aka “sweating drops of blood”. This occurs through great stress, anxiety, and/or fear.
    • Flesh torn from his body as a result of the flogging. Not to mention the extreme pain here.
    • The crown of thorns brought even more bleeding around the scalp. Furthermore, the soldiers hit his head multiple times with a staff – driving the thorns deeper into him. And more pain.
    • The robe that the soldiers put on him likely stuck to clotting blood and when ripped back off opened those wounds back up and caused excruciating pain. (Are you seeing a painful theme here?)
    • Shock. The human body can endure only so much before going into shock. Jesus likely experienced it before the soldiers attached the crossbeam to his back.
    • Once on the cross, the shock lowered His blood pressure and increased His body’s demand for oxygen. Problem is that breathing caused intense stabbing pain throughout His body.
    • The blood and water. Blood and water-like fluid pouring out of Jesus’ side fits with rupturing the sac around the heart.
    • Likely cause of death: cardiac and respiratory arrest, due to shock, due to crucifixion.

    Spiritual Suffering

    Jesus’ suffering wasn’t limited to the physical. It extended to the spiritual as well. I promise to be brief here.

    • Jesus took on all the sins of the world for all time. That means all sin from every person since Adam & Eve. And all the people that have yet to be born.
    • Isaiah 53 says that Jesus paid for our healing. The word imagery here indicates He paid for our spiritual healing, our mental/emotional healing, and our physical healing. That means that Jesus took upon Himself all physical disease, mental disorders, emotional disorders, etc.
    • The wrath of God. God literally poured out His wrath upon Jesus. As painful as that was for Him to do, He had to in order to open the way for us to Him.
    • Lastly, and perhaps the worst thing of them all, separation from the Father. For the first time in His eternal life, Jesus experienced separation from His Father. The pain of such a separation must’ve been awful. Technically, God stayed by Jesus’ side through it all, but there had to be a short term spiritual separation once all sin and God’s wrath was placed on Him. I say that because the Bible says sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) and it also says Jesus became sin so we could become righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21). Therefore, a separation between Father and Son must’ve occurred. Gut wrenching, but true.

    Jesus’ suffering encompassed body, soul, and spirit. It happened this way so Jesus could be the perfect sacrifice and could relate to us in every way. This enables Him to be the perfect High Priest for us.

    Wrapping Up

    Just researching for this post and writing it makes me more appreciative of Jesus’ suffering. I’m also once again humbled by it. I hope you are all too. I hope you see with new eyes what Jesus endured physically and spiritually. Let us all go through this season with a gratitude that we’ve never had before.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Adopted

    Adopted

    Intro

    The New Testament repeatedly tells us that God adopted us into His family. The topic of adoption is at the forefront of my mind right now. I recently came off of volunteering for a week at a camp that my church put on for kids in the foster care system. (See For The Children’s website for more information about the non-profit organization that my church partners with to make it happen). I’ve done it now five years running, and I intend to continue to do it as much as possible. People who adopt (or even foster) children and children who have been adopted both offer a different perspective (I would think) on this concept of God adopting us than the average person. So, today I’m going to explain what it means for God to adopt us as His children.

    Why Adoption?

    First of all, why do we need to be adopted in the first place? Aren’t we all God’s children? Adam and Eve’s sin resulted in separation from God. Humans were no longer a part of God’s family. Jesus tells the pharisees that they are children of the devil rather than of God (John 8:31-47 for whole context). Furthermore, 1 John 3:9-10 states “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” (NLT). The Bible demonstrates that not everyone (not even all Jews – God’s chosen people) can claim to be children of God.

    Now that I’ve established that we are not naturally born of God, it becomes clear that we need to be adopted. And Galatians 4:4-6 says it so well, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption into sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hears, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” (NIV). I find this a beautiful passage since it affirms our adoption into God’s family and declares that we have the right to call Him “Abba, Father”.

    Roman Adoption

    It’s interesting to note that the writers of the Bible really only used the adoption metaphor with Gentiles and not Jews. Adoption was uncommon in the Jewish world and would have been a difficult concept to grasp. However, it really is a perfect metaphor to us Gentiles who aren’t part of God’s chosen people. The Gentile readers readily understood adoption in the Roman world. For Romans, if there was no heir for a man to leave his wealth to (or he deemed the heir unfit) then he would adopt someone. When he adopted someone, that person would get a name change and have any previous debts cancelled. And he would receive all the rights and privileges that come with being a natural born son.

    That sounds a lot like what happens when we come into relationship with Jesus. Jesus paid our debts on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14) and we are now co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:14-17). And to take it a step farther, the Romans made adoptions irreversible.

    Benefits of Being Adopted

    So, what do we get out of being adopted by God? Probably a lot more than what I’m going to talk about today!

    A Relationship with God

    First and foremost, we get a loving relationship with God as our Father. I’m not going to spend much time here because I have an entire post about God as our Father here. One thing I didn’t mention there but I will here is that as our Father, He has an inheritance for us. And while I’m sure there’s more to it than this, our inheritance includes a glorified body, a permanent place of residence in His coming kingdom, and being able to enjoy all of eternity with Him in a new heaven and new earth.

    Led by Holy Spirit

    A major benefit of being adopted by God is that Holy Spirit indwells in us and leads us into what God has for us on this earth. Holy Spirit convicts, corrects, comforts, and empowers us in this life. He enables us to approach the throne room of grace with boldness and talk to the God of the universe. You can read a bit more about Him in my post here.

    Part of a Global Family

    Have you ever run into another believer that you’ve never met before and immediately connected with them? I have. It’s incredible to say the least. Any time I would go to Lifest, I would inevitably have at least one short conversation with a complete stranger and yet feel this connection I’ve never had with any non-believer. All people who have God’s Spirit living in them are part of this giant family that goes beyond all earthly boundaries such as language, nation, race, ethnicity, etc. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 covers this very well.

    Blessed by God

    Ephesians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” As members of God’s family, He blesses us richly. Blessings such as hope, peace, and joy in the midst of difficulties. Endurance in times of tribulation. The power to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgiveable. Through Holy Spirit we conquer every fear, worry, and anxiety through the power of Christ. We employ the Armor of God to defeat every attack of the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are on the winning side in a war between kingdoms. And lastly, we get to spend all of eternity in the presence of the Holiest of Holies, the Great I Am, the Alpha and Omega, God Almighty, Amen.

    What Adoption Does Not Mean

    Now, I need to address a very serious misconception that exists within the church. Called Replacement Theology, it supposes that when the Jews rejected Jesus, God replaced the Jews with the Church as His chosen people. It claims that any prophecies regarding Israel’s future are for the Church, and not Israel. In the minds of those who adhere to Replacement Theology, God has no plans for Israel’s future. He rejected them when they rejected Christ.

    I’m not going to talk about this in any depth here. In fact, I plan on doing a whole separate post about it. I wanted to mention it here though and just say that this is an erroneous doctrine. The Bible declares God’s plans for Israel over and over again. God is far from done with the Jewish people. Refuting false doctrine will be new territory for me in this blog, but I feel it needs to be addressed. I don’t plan on writing up a lot of refutations on false doctrine, but I will address it where necessary.

    Wrapping Up

    After this I hope you see the blessings of adoption into God’s family. And I only scratched the surface of it. I encourage you to look into this more and find out for yourself just how much God loves us to choose to adopt us.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • God’s Sovereignty

    God’s Sovereignty

    Intro

    God’s sovereignty is undisputed amongst Christians. However, what they do dispute about is how that sovereignty translates to the world we live in. In other words, how much of what we see in the world (the good and the bad) is a part of God’s will to happen? And how much is because we have free will? I only briefly mentioned God’s sovereignty in my post about God the Father and I aim to expand upon that today. In addition, I actually can’t fully talk about sovereignty without comparing it to God’s goodness, which I’ve already established in both the Trinity Trilogy post and my last one, Good Good Father.

    Good Vs Sovereign

    Admit it, you weren’t expecting that as a heading. It’s Good vs Evil right? In this case, when people ask the question “If there is truly a good and loving God, why is there evil in the world?”, they are questioning God’s sovereignty. Therefore, when talking about His sovereignty, I need to balance it out with His goodness. And believe it or not, the truth is simpler than people make it out to be. And it’s easier to figure out than people realize as well. When I first heard what I’m about to tell you, I was blown away by its simplicity. And it brought a greater measure of peace and confidence in my life. Enough teasing let’s get started.

    Simple Vs Complicated

    As I mentioned, I need to balance out God’s sovereignty with His goodness. Putting these two together is the only way to make sense of how God’s sovereignty works in the world and can explain why evil exists. And when performing this balancing act, I also need to introduce two other factors: simple vs complicated. You see, when people try to explain evil in the world in light of God’s goodness and sovereignty, they also (often unknowingly) describe one or both of these attributes as simple or complicated.

    After defining these, I am going to mix and match them to get four types of worlds that we could be living in based on God’s goodness vs sovereignty. I’ll describe these four worlds and then use what the Bible says about God and the world as well as real-life experience to determine which of the four worlds we live in. Let’s get started.

    Simple Goodness

    When I say God’s goodness is simple, I’m saying that God wants only good all the time. He will never want nor use evil to get good. He will not use an “Ends justifies the means” approach to how He operates in the world.

    Complicated Goodness

    To put this simply, a complicated goodness means God ultimately wants good things and will always circle back to good but might trudge through some evil to get there. In this world, God might reach inside my body and mess with it to ensure I end up with some disease just so He could do something in my life that is good.

    Simple Sovereignty

    This is also pretty simple to define, it means God’s will occurs all the time. Everything that happens is from God and is His will. Literally nothing happens in the world that God did not plan out and say, “I want this to happen.”

    Complicated Sovereignty

    With a complicated sovereignty, God is supreme, but His will won’t always occur. Instead, He is working to establish His will in our world. I teased this concept in a previous post with an analogy, I’ll repost it here to refresh your memory (or introduce for the first time if you haven’t read that post).

    The monarchs of old Europe were sovereign over their kingdoms. But not all their subjects obeyed the laws or did what the monarch would’ve like them to. Criminals ran around doing as they pleased disregarding what the king desired. It’s the same with God and our world. God is sovereign over all, but not everyone chooses to live their lives by His standards or do what He desires them to.

    Four Worlds

    Now that I’ve defined each of these terms, I’m going to mix and match to get the four worlds I mentioned earlier. Each world will have a basic list of attributes that would be true of that world.

    Simple G.Complicated G.
    Simple S.Cosmic Utopia
    -Perfection.
    -No sickness, death, crimes, etc.
    -No free will.    		Cosmic Blueprint
    -Two nations fighting, God is playing both sides. That means only one will, one rule, and one kingdom.
    -Satan and demons are puppets of God.
    -No free will.
    Complicated S.Cosmic Battle
    -God is good all the time.
    -Two kingdoms, two wills fighting.
    -Free will plays a role.    		Cosmic Mystery
    -No clue what is and is not of God.
    -God is unknowable.
    -There is no anchor point to know God.
    -Free will plays a role.

    Let’s go through each of these and see what works and what doesn’t based on the Bible and reality.

    Cosmic Utopia

    I’m going to say little to nothing about this one because it’s so obviously not what we see in the world and the Bible is all about how broken man and the world are and how God is working to restore everything. So, it’s pretty safe to say that God’s goodness and His sovereignty can’t both be simple.

    Cosmic Mystery

    I know, I’m not going in order, but I want to show both ends of the extreme since there are rare times when an extreme is the truth in life. With Cosmic Mystery, we can’t just look at the world and say if it is reality like we could with Cosmic Utopia. However, when we read the Bible, we can. The Bible is very clear that we can know God. Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God. John 14:9 (NIV), “Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?””

    The Bible also repeatedly calls us to grow in our knowledge of God. How can we if He is unknowable? Given that, I can confidently say that God’s goodness and sovereignty also cannot both be complicated.

    Cosmic Blueprint

    Ever hear the phrase “God works in mysterious ways”? Or “Everything happens for a reason”? Both of these are great descriptions of this world, the Cosmic Blueprint. In this world, God’s goodness is complicated, while His sovereignty is simple. So, everything that happens is in God’s will and He is willing to use evil to ultimately accomplish good in the lives of people. As humans, we have no free will, no choice. God determines all our choices for us. Satan and his horde are mere puppets. Unable to do anything without God’s permission.

    I see multiple problems here. First, the Bible puts blame on Satan for various things such as deceiving Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), being a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) and snatching the truth from people’s hearts (Matthew 13:19). Expanding on that, Revelation 20 describes the punishment Satan will receive for his deeds. But if Satan can’t do anything without God’s permission, then everything Satan has ever done and will do are basically his marching orders. And that means that the Bible is unjustly blaming Satan and using Him as a scapegoat.

    Secondly, the Bible is also clear that as humans we make pretty rotten choices. The entire book of Judges is all about Israel rejecting God, getting punished, crying out to Him for help, and God sending someone to rescue them. Again, Israel would be unjustly punished if they didn’t have free will. Without free will, we are a bunch of fleshy robots only able to do what we are programmed to do. In this world, God is playing a one-player game. And He controls everything in it.

    So based on this, there’s no way that the correct combo is Simple Sovereignty with Complicated Goodness. This leaves one more.

    Cosmic Battle

    The final one is the combination of Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. I already gave an example of old Europe for how sovereignty doesn’t immediately equate to everything happening in accordance with the will of the sovereign. In addition, the New Testament uses multi-kingdom analogies all over. We see phrases such as “Kingdom of God”, “Kingdom of Light”, “Kingdom of Darkness”, etc. Revelation talks about a war between Satan and his angels against Micheal and his angels. And Ephesians chapter 6 is all about preparing to go to war against Satan.

    And to demonstrate from the Bible the simple goodness of God, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 and “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (NIV). Furthermore, Jesus says that He came that “they may have life” while it is the thief that “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). And since Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God, we can be confident that this applies to God as well.

    In this world, even though God doesn’t cause evil in order to bring good, He most certainly takes the evil and turns it around to bring something good from it.

    What’s Left

    It’s pretty clear to me that the Bible points to Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. Now, this actually doesn’t answer all the questions. For example, what about the Old Testament with all of the punishments attributed to God? Wouldn’t that point to a complicated goodness? Not necessarily. In short, God established a covenant with Israel that said “If you obey me and follow me, I will give you blessings. If you turn your back on me, I will punish you.” So, God promised to punish the people should they turn their back on God. And God always keeps His promises (an attribute closely related to His goodness). Granted, it is still a little confusing and deserves its own future post.

    One final thing I’d like to say about how God’s kingdom operates. God chooses to limit Himself and work through people and angels to accomplish His will. Could God just snap His fingers and get it all done? Yep. But He doesn’t. He chooses to use finite beings who screw up to get things done. Why? Because He wants us to choose Him of our own volition. Free choice is one way we are made in the image of God. God desires us to follow and obey Him, but He wants us to choose Him, not just be a bunch of robots programmed to do that.

    Wrapping Up

    By now I hope I’ve done justice to God’s sovereignty and His goodness. They are two key aspects of God, and it wouldn’t be good to treat them flippantly. And it’s important to remember that God is on the throne, He is sovereign, and all things will be made new and put right. And we all need to remember that we are in a war. We live in a world of two kingdoms duking it out. But we have nothing to fear. For God will work it all out in the end. That is our hope as Christians that we can hold onto.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!